Cutting a Christmas tree? Get a permit

OGDEN  Northern Utah families wanting to cut their own Christmas trees in national forests may have to go Wyoming, Idaho or central Utah.

The Logan, Ogden and Salt Lake ranger districts of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest will not offer tree permits again this year.

And permits in surrounding districts are going fast. The Evanston-Mountain View District started with 2,000 permits and is already down to about 400.

Forest Service spokeswoman Kathy Jo Pollock said most areas of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest don't need further thinning, and those that do are hard to reach.

Spanish Fork and Heber City districts in the Uinta National Forest, Vernal and Roosevelt in the Ashley National Forest and the Manti-La Sal, Dixie and Fishlake national forests all started issuing the $10 Christmas tree permits in November. Heber City sold out already.

Without a permit, a tree-cutter may be subject to up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Forest officials said officers may stop anyone heading out of the forest with a tree. If the tree was cut from private land, the driver must have written proof of permission.

Cutting will be allowed on Utah State Trust Lands at Frasier Springs by Monte Cristo, Tabby Mountain in Tabiona and at Poison Springs near Price.